Apocalypses NOW

Dear k4 I bet you all remember that amazing first hotel we stayed at for training in kampong cham the one we love to refer to as the hotel they shot apocalypses now bc it looks just like that and there are more hookers then one knows what to do with. Well great news I got to go to their nightclub and celebrate a wedding and random drunk men deff did leave with the beer girls. For the rest of you readers so confused I will start this story from the begging okay so I went to vist my host family in Prey Chore where I endured a long ass ride with the taxi driver asking me to marry him asking me why I did not want a Cambodian sweet heart which now I reply not even that I have a “sweetheart” in America but that I do not like how Khmer men drink everyday and do not work and then go off to the karaoke bars etc where they pickup women and cheat on their sweethearts. I feel this is the first step on me allowing them to know that their actions are not okay and it seems to make them laugh and know that I really do live in Cambodia I am not just visiting. So I arrive and got to meet my other host sister that I never met and gave my mom her present…. So I had this one picture of her kissing my dad while he was asleep made into a really big picture and put it in a cardboard frame with 2 Khmer phrase “always kiss me goodnight” and “our love is immortal” this made her laugh for the whole time I was visiting however she soon informed their was a big family wedding in kampong cham did I want to go. Did I really want to go not at first however I thought about it and deiced well my family now would never invite me to jack so ill go.  Im like yes but I have no Khmer wedding clothes with me she is like no problem and then im like I have very little money to contribute to this trip aka I thought we would have to stay in a hotel which you will soon find out not the case anyways she was like no money don’t worry.  Turns out my other sister had to work so I was going as the child to represent the family somewhat odd but it only gets a bit more crazy from this point on so me and my host mom grab a taxi where for the first time in her adult Cambodian life she was being ripped off bc she was with my brong ass I thought this was funny she was less then amused. She is yelling the whole car ride how im a volunteer and I have no money what’s wrong with them for thinking I have money bc she knows me she sometimes forgets that im not khmer bc im just around her and I just sort of fit however I know exactly how and outsider views me my host mom does not. I had to talk very little this car ride bc my host mom answered the normal questions I get asked. When we get to the house I meet the bride who I guess is my host cousin a lot of Buddhist nuns and yay’s (grandmama or old lady in khmer though if your not close to the old lady you would just call them om) anyways enough of a Khmer lesson their was a small ceremony all in old sandscript so I had no idea what was going on then I went down stairs with my host mom to eat where I met a lot of other random people who I would soon become bunk mates with fyi it still did not occur to me we were not staying in a hotel I guess im just that slow. Side note most people do not take part in the ceremony parts, which start the night be4 the day of then people show up for the party at night to give money. Most of the people who were around me I guess family and really close friends which is what entitles you to stay the night at the brides house and I made the cut lol so the first night yea by the way I got two fun filled nights of this they gave me a bed near a fan so I could maybe not get eating my misquotes (can say that did’t help) having the one out of the two beds meant I was deff going to be sharing so it was me my host mom and this Buddhist nun and let me inform you this bed was the traditional wooden bed with no mattress so mine as well should have slept on the floor which the next night I did do and I can say that was actually way better. I slept true khmer style 3 people to a bed and people all over the floor and in the other bed was a bunch of yays I would say 4 I guess cuz I was American I lucked out with my 3 to a bed I dunno. Well the bride gets up at 2 am to sweep the whole house for her guest which I think ill just refer to as couch suffers or crashers if you will and to start the make up process which is full body makeup to whiten the skin fyi the bride wear a butt pad to make her have a bigger but isn’t that funny bc brides in America spend weeks in a gym trying to lose their ass. At this point im like is this all really happening I think I slept for an hour and had no coffee this was going to be along day with a million people coming up to me asking me the same questions at 3 am all asking me guess what they have so many sons that they want me to marry and can I take their whole family to America. Me really you have a son is he good-looking does he drink everyday does he sleep with hookers lol are you sure bc I don’t want to have a husband who cheats on me them o no my son would never. Well there is one shower for us all to use which is a sink that you fill the bucked with to pour on ur self fun! Haha thank god im used to showering outside so not to much can bother me any more I get dressed in to the only sampot I bought with me for my peace corps meeting when I met another old lady who happens to not quit by this I mean she talked Khmer to me for 30 mins straight and I have to be real honest when I talk in Khmer my brain starts to shut down 15 mins into a convo just to much I guess well turns out I agreed to a lot of stuff to this lady with out realizing it so I can say this was partially my fault but also I cant be held accountable for long Khmer conversations. Before I know it she has convinced my host mom to start to walk to her house with me bc my host mom was going followed one thing lead to another and she was dressing me up for this Khmer event with full makeup bright pink I can say is deff my least favorite color and I think it looks pretty bad on me as far as for a color to pick to wear around. However when in Rome do as the Romans so I let them deck me out trying to remember this is their culture they think this is great I have to just keep thinking this over and over.  I kid you not it takes them like 20 mins on making my face whiter which im not sure can be done but they did try anyways we head back over to the wedding. A lot of rituals and a lot of pictures etc there is a part where you go up to at a time which this old lady basically forced me to do with her so im in a lot of pictures with her. I wish I could say the pictures stopped with her but nope I got called into all sorts of pictures with bride’s maids etc just because I was American. Well at lunch time I get this old man coming up to me requesting I go back to that old ladies house so I debate but she did give me clothes etc so I thought for irbing I would even though my host parents were not invited with me which sort of bothered me ill explain more in a sec. okay so there are rich people in Cambodia this lady happened to be one of them I mean loaded she had a driver and her house was huge I was really overwhelmed and she wanted to make me her new best friend. Well im gone for a while so my host mom comes to look for me which me and my host mom have our own way of communicating so it makes things better when she is around anyways this lady is telling her how she wants me to come vist her every month will I come and see her again real soon all this crazy talk how she wants to meet my boyfriend. I was like of course well I end up taking a nap wake up to a new frock to wear to the night time wedding party which was thank god not pink however you ever just get a odd feeling well I started to get that because it was like I could not escape this lady and she was almost using me as a hand bag to this event like my American status makes her look better to people so I was sitting at this table which im sure was an elite table just wanting to escape and find my host parents. After my encounter with this rich lady I deiced rich Cambodians make me nervous bc they can pay off the cops and do whatever they want so I think my feelings were justified even though I thought at the time why am I over thinking this. Once I did escape I did sit out side with my host mom a while and also made some new friends at the younger table my host dad was pretty busy this whole time bc he was collecting the money bc this was his brothers daughters wedding however I did get to talk to him a few times though out the wedding mostly it was him bragging to his male friends that I play soccer better then a boy however im happy he embraces this in me instead of thinking this is bad and his just such a good hearted person compared to my host dad now. Ill just end like this my story does not do this event justices you just had to be their! Anyways I get back to prey chore to see the people around the area which of course was amazing some other volunteers where also in but I had to head back for the peace corps meeting that was starting I had a really eventful visit to see the host family. Till next time peace out from the other side of the world!